


Orange is the Worst Color

by pil-flip (s_n_a_k_e)



Series: Broken Vessel but Oro is their dad now [1]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: An OC is mentioned, Gen, Just my own idea of what happens after the game, Self-Harm, This is an AU but it's still Hollow Knight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:07:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21587335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/s_n_a_k_e/pseuds/pil-flip
Summary: A meeting that Oro made Broken Vessel go to with him does not go well.
Relationships: Broken Vessel | Lost Kin & Nailmaster Oro
Series: Broken Vessel but Oro is their dad now [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1556023
Comments: 4
Kudos: 65





	Orange is the Worst Color

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry this is so short, I just had an idea I really wanted to write.

The visit was… not very fun, so far. Broken Vessel hadn’t even been able to walk all the way to the New Palace in the Ancient Basin, not from Kingdom’s Edge with the Great Hoppers and spike traps and the _Primal Aspids_ , and Oro had carried them most of the way there. He probably would have anyways, even if their legs hadn’t decided to stop working and they almost fell into a spike pit. 

This was also the first time they had seen anyone other than Oro in a long time. Weeks? Months? It couldn’t have been years, right? It was… stressful. 

The Hollow Knight was signing, their long cloak and their dark metal crown and the half-mask on the cracked side of their face, covered in dark swirls, their nail leaning against their chair, and all of those were interesting to the Broken Vessel. They also noticed that the room was dim. Did their sibling also hate light? It would make sense. 

Hornet, who had become queen of Deepnest, was translating for the Hollow Knight. Broken Vessel didn’t pay much attention to her, though. They were more focused on the small creature standing next to her chair. 

It looked almost like a vessel, but it had combined the traits of several other bugs and used those to make its own shape. It had the same horns as Hornet, two long ones that stuck out from the bottom of its head and went up, and four eyes. Four _orange_ eyes. And it was staring at the Broken Vessel. 

They quickly look away, but the orange stays with them. They can feel the tiny thing staring at them, and the dim room suddenly feels too bright. They look at the Hollow Knight. And all they can see is their sibling with orange eyes, staring at them. They don’t realize that everyone has stopped talking, don’t realize that they’re scratching at their neck again until Oro carefully grabs their arm and says something. They don’t really hear it. Then they’re being picked up and carried away, back to home, somewhere safer than here with that thing with orange eyes. 

* * *

They wake up, suddenly, to the sound of someone talking. A familiar voice that they block out. Saying things about light and help and they don’t want to hear it. Everything is too bright and tinted orange. They turn their head, realizing that they’re in their bed at home, the pile of soft blankets that they love. Oro is sitting nearby, staring into a cup of tea. There’s another cup, the tea still steaming, on the floor next to them.

They try to sit up but their body doesn’t want to work, and the noise in their mind gets louder. Their arm starts to move on its own, almost like it’s trying to get used to moving. They sit up, but they didn’t want to, and knock over the cup when their hands start looking for their nail. They try to stop, lay back down, but their body won’t do what they want it to do, and they finally grab their nail as Oro looks up to see what’s wrong. They feel their arm start to raise the nail, and _Oro is close enough to attack, they wouldn’t hurt him right?_

Using the last of their strength, with the noise and the light and the _orange_ trying to stop them, they turn their nail around and stab it into their own chest. And they do it again, and again, until they can’t move their arm anymore. They see Oro stand up, hear him say something that they can’t understand, and the light finally starts to go away, fade, as their vision goes black.

* * *

They wake up suddenly, in their bed at home, and they’re shaking. The room is dim, more dim than it usually is, and they turn their head to the side. Oro is sitting, staring into a cup of tea. A larger cup is sitting near them, the tea still steaming. They sit up, look at their hands, press their claws into the palm of their hands hard enough that they start to bleed, and then start to scratch at healing cuts on their arms, their wrists, cutting them open again. They see orange mixed with the dark void that’s dripping from the cuts and keep scratching, wanting to get it out. 

Oro reacts quickly, grabbing their arms before they make the cuts worse than they already have. They look down, not making eye contact, watching pure black void drip onto the floor and cover their hands. After a minute Oro lets go, goes to get bandages and comes back. They stay still as he unwraps the bandages on their face, wraps more over the hole that was hidden under the layers of cloth, and then wraps their arms with several layers of bandages to keep them from tearing through it. When he’s done they take the cup of tea that he’s handing to them, carefully drink some. It’s their favorite kind. And then they set the cup down and hug Oro, grabbing onto his cloak and not letting go. After a few seconds Oro hugs them.


End file.
